Documentation: 3.4.1
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This page last updated: 12/11/08 05:12pm

Network ports

You can enable Splunk to accept an input on any TCP or UDP port. Splunk consumes any data sent on these ports. TCP is the protocol underlying Splunk's data distribution, which is the recommended method for sending data from any remote machine to your Splunk server.

Important: In version 3.3.3 of Splunk, default syslog processing via UDP does not correctly handle line-breaks. To work around this issue, add _linebreaker = _linebreaker to the UDP stanza in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/inputs.conf. This issue was resolved in 3.3.4.

Splunk Web

Add inputs from network ports via Splunk Web.

1. Click Admin in the upper right-hand corner of Splunk Web.

2. Then click Data Inputs.

3. Pick Network Ports - Display and access configuration for UDP and TCP ports.

4. Click New Input to add an input.

5. Under the Source heading, select Protocol of UDP or TCP.

6. Accept the default port, 9998, or enter another port number.

7. Specify whether this port should accept connections from all hosts or one host. If you specify one host, enter the IP address of the host.

8. Now set the Source Type. Source type is a default field added to events. Source type is used to determine processing characteristics such as timestamps and event boundaries. Learn more about setting source type. Choose:

  • From List
    • Select one of the pre-defined source types from the drop-down list.
  • Manual
    • Label your own source type in the text box.

9. After specifying the source, host, and source type, click Submit.

CLI

Monitor files and directories via Splunk's Command Line Interface (CLI). To use Splunk's CLI, navigate to the $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/ directory and use the ./splunk command. Or add Splunk to your path and use the splunk command.

If you get stuck, Splunk's CLI has built-in help. Access the main CLI help by typing splunk help. Individual commands have their own help pages as well -- type splunk help <command>.

The following commands are available for input configuration via the CLI:

Command Command syntax Action
add add tcp | udp $SOURCE [-parameter value] ... Add inputs from $SOURCE.
edit edit tcp | udp $SOURCE [-parameter value] ... Edit a previously added input for $SOURCE.
remove remove tcp | udp $SOURCE Remove a previously added data input.
list list tcp | udp List the currently configured monitor.

Change the configuration of each data input type by setting additional parameters. Parameters are set via the syntax: -parameter value.

Required parameters
$SOURCE Port number to listen for data to index.

Optional parameters
sourcetype Specify a sourcetype field value for events from the input source.
index Specify the destination index for events from the input source.
hostname Specify a host name to set as the host field value for events from the input source.
remotehost Specify an IP address to exclusively accept data from.
resolvehost Set True of False (T | F). Default is False. Set True to use DNS to set the host field value for events from the input source.

Example

Configure a network input, then set the sourcetype:

  • Configure a UDP input to watch port 514 and set the sourcetype to "syslog".

Important: In version 3.3.3 of Splunk, default syslog processing via UDP does not correctly handle line-breaks. To work around this issue, add _linebreaker = _linebreaker to the UDP stanza in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/inputs.conf. This issue was resolved in 3.3.4.

Check the Spunk Wiki for information about the best practices for using UDP when configuring Syslog input.

./splunk add udp 514 -sourcetype syslog
  • Set the UDP input's host value via DNS. Use auth with your username and password.
./splunk edit udp 514 -resolvehost true -auth admin:changeme

Note: Splunk must be running as root to watch ports under 1024.

inputs.conf

To add an input, add a stanza for it to inputs.conf in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/, or your own custom application directory in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/. If you have not worked with Splunk's configuration files before, read how configuration files work before you begin.

You can set any number of attributes and values following an input type. If you do not specify a value for one or more attributes, Splunk uses the defaults that are preset in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/default/ (noted below).

TCP

[tcp://<remote server>:<port>]
<attrbute1> = <val1>
<attrbute2> = <val2>
...

This type of input stanza tells Splunk to listen to <remote server> on <port>. If <remote server> is blank, Splunk listens to all connections on the specified port.

host = <string>

  • Set the host value of your input to a static value.
  • host:: is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.
  • Defaults to the IP address of fully qualified domain name of the host where the data originated.
  • For more information about the host field, see the host section.

index = <string>

  • Set the index where events from this input will be stored.
  • index:: is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.
  • Defaults to main (or whatever you have set as your default index).
  • For more information about the index field, see the data management section.

sourcetype = <string>

  • Set the sourcetype name of events from this input.
  • sourcetype:: is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.
  • Splunk automatically picks a source type based on various aspects of your data. There is no hard-coded default.
  • For more information about the sourcetype field, see the source type section.

source = <string>

  • Set the source name of events from this input.
  • Defaults to the file path.
  • source:: is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.

queue = <string> (parsingQueue, indexQueue, etc)

  • Specify where the input processor should deposit the events that it reads.
  • Can be any valid, existing queue in the pipeline.
  • Defaults to parsingQueue.

connection_host = [ip | dns]

  • If set to ip: the TCP input processor rewrites the host with the ip address of the remote server.
  • If set to dns: the host is rewritten with the DNS entry of the remote server.
  • Defaults to ip.

UDP

Important: In version 3.3.3 of Splunk, default syslog processing via UDP does not correctly handle line-breaks. To work around this issue, add _linebreaker = _linebreaker to the UDP stanza in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/inputs.conf. This was resolved in 3.3.4.

[udp://:<port>]
<attrbute1> = <val1>
<attrbute2> = <val2>
...

This type of input stanza is similar to the TCP type, except that it listens on a UDP port.

host = <string>

  • Set the host value of your input to a static value.
  • host= is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.
  • Defaults to the IP address of fully qualified domain name of the host where the data originated.
  • For more information about the host field, see the host section.

index = <string>

  • Set the index where events from this input will be stored.
  • index= is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.
  • Defaults to main (or whatever you have set as your default index).
  • For more information about the index field, see the data management section.

sourcetype = <string>

  • Set the sourcetype name of events from this input.
  • sourcetype= is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.
  • Splunk automatically picks a source type based on various aspects of your data. There is no hard-coded default.
  • For more information about the sourcetype field, see the source type section.

source = <string>

  • Set the source name of events from this input.
  • Defaults to the file path.
  • source= is automatically prepended to the value when this shortcut is used.

queue = <string> (parsingQueue, indexQueue, etc)

  • Specify where the input processor should deposit the events that it reads.
  • Can be any valid, existing queue in the pipeline.
  • Defaults to parsingQueue.

_rcvbuf = <int>

  • Specify the receive buffer for the UDP port.
  • If the value is 0 or negative, it is ignored.
  • The default value for Splunk is 1MB (the default in the OS varies).

no_priority_stripping = true

  • If this attribute is set to true, then Splunk does NOT strip the <priority> syslog field from received events.
  • Note: Do NOT include this key at all if you want to strip priority.

no_appending_timestamp = true

  • If this attribute is set to true, then Splunk does NOT append a timestamp and host to received events.
  • Note: Do NOT include this key at all if you want to append timestamp and host to received events.
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Comments

  1. @valente: Thanks for the feedback. I've fixed it.
    Posted by emma on Dec 11 2008, 5:59pm

  2. The CLI command summary above incorrectly refers to syntax of files and directories. This page is about Network ports.
    Posted by valente on Dec 11 2008, 5:53pm

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